Charity Commission appoints interim managers to animal charity

The regulator has had a statutory inquiry into The Alternative Sanctuary open since March 2017 because of alleged over-reliance on a fundraising agency

The Charity Commission has appointed interim managers to an animal charity amid concerns about the amounts it was spending with a fundraising agency.

The regulator opened a statutory inquiry into The Alternative Sanctuary, a Lincolnshire-based charity that cares for neglected animals, in March 2017 because of concerns about its apparent over-reliance on a fundraising agency and the rate of return for the charity.

The commission said at the time that it had concerns about the "significantly high costs and fees of the agreement" and the trustees’ decision to enter into the agreement in the first place.

The regulator said today that the interim managers, Phil Watts and Sarah Tomlinson of Anthony Collins Solicitors, would take control of the management and administration of the charity to the exclusion of trustees because of concerns about its governance and management.

The charity’s accounts for the year to the end of March 2017 have not been filed and are almost a year late, the regulator’s website shows.

The sanctuary had an income and expenditure of about £1.3m in 2015/16.

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